I decided to make an apple crumble the other day and just winged it, eventhough I had perfectly good recipes available (I do tend to collect cookbooks, especially those dedicated to pastry, cake, desserts...).
So here it goes :
Start the oven, thermostat on 6.
Peel, cut and cube 3 apples (the Golden variety, sweet, firm and juicy). Pour them in a baking dish (I used a standard porcelaine one). Skip the buttering the dish step !
Mix some brown sugar with a pack of vanilla sugar and cinnamon (no apple should ever get cooked without cinnamon, in my book !), sprinkle on the apples.
Now, for the topping, shred a cake ! I used a yaourt cake I had made 3 days before, and reduced about a third to crumbs.
Add a few dots of butter on top of the crumbs, everything gets into the oven and comes out only when the top gets golden-brownish.
Let cool just enough to be edible without 3rd degree burning of the mouth. For an extra bit of flavour, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
Golden syrup on the apple adds a nice flavour, but beware the overdose of sugar !

What a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing it. I often end up throwing out the "ends" of cakes that have started to go a little stale but this is the perfect use for them. Of course most of the cakes in my household are chocolate but chocolate and apple go very well together!
I imagine that you could freeze any ends of cake until you had a crumble desire and whizz the frozen cake in a food processor.
I am going to give this a shot next time I get my hands on some rhubarb for a rhubarb and apple chocolate crumble dessert! teeheehee sounds very much like my new comfort food!_________________For all the best Dark Chocolate recipes, tips, information and news visit www.EverythingDarkChocolate.com

I did try it with store-bought gingerbread, but the result was not too great. Instead of the crunchy, fragrant crust I had hoped, I got a kind of sticky-soft cover. But the idea of a chocolate cake-crumb... Worth a try ! Maybe with a mix of apple and pears, pears and chocolate do so very well go together !

I wonder if English gingerbread (which is denser and harder than pain d'epice) might make a crunchier crumble topping? Of course, if you have to make it yourself (I've never seen it for sale in France, though perhaps I haven't looked hard enough) then that rather spoils the idea of a super-easy crumble! In which case Donna's idea is probably much better...

I use granola for my toppings, sometimes mixed with crushed/chopped nuts and butter. The flavored ones are especially great (apple ginger, etc)...
I also throw some dried fruit in along with the cut up fresh fruit, seasonings and butter. You can use frozen berries, too.

Most often I also put in chopped crystalized ginger and lemon peel (I always keep some on hand in the freezer). Once in a while I will add something like cointreau or poire william or calvados as well...
_________________"Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
- Albert Einstein
http://www.robinoriginals.com/eats.html

Well the basic idea was to go the laziest possible way ! So toasting the topping "complicates" the process !!! But it's worth a try anyway, and I think I'll give it a whirl ! Now how much to toast ... Maybe I will just make some gingerbread just to see how it comes out ! With some of my great-uncle homemade honey...

Judy,
I usually put both strips and finely shredded zest in ziploc bags in the freezer. I peel every single lemon whether I'm using the peel or not and put it in the bag and keep adding to it. It keeps for a long long time.
I also do the same with Limes and Oranges. That way, it's always on hand.

BTW, I love the small microplane for very fine zest, I've only seen it available at Williams-Sonoma. I no longer have to chop up the zest.

Joined: 29 Sep 2004Posts: 1196Location: buried under a pile of books somewhere in Adelaide, South Australia

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:39 pm Post subject:

Thanks robinorig, that's a great idea - I'll do the same from now on. So many times I have wished I had some zest for something or other.

I love Microplane and Cuisipro graters. I have 3 sizes and the small nutmeg grater/keeper that I bought at Williams-Sonoma a couple of years ago._________________Doing what you like is freedom
Liking what you do is happiness

I love microplanes, too... I have 4 of them, all different. They're great tools!

BTW, I usually label the bags of frozen peels w/a sharpie permanent marker... sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a lemon or orange peel after it's been frozen for a while!_________________"Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
- Albert Einstein
http://www.robinoriginals.com/eats.html

Monkey, thank you so much for posting this single serving recipe. I live by myself and am always craving a little treat, but it seems so unreasonable to make an entire pie or cake for myself. I suppose I could always give the rest away, but I don't trust myself not to eat it all! Either way, thanks for this, it was a very pleasant surprise!